The prior art flexible head hammer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,919,128 of inventor C.R. Redden, issued July 18, 1933, which is summarized below. Related patents, which are summarized below,
include U.S. Patent Nos.:
______________________________________ 603,694 Kavanaugh, Issued May 10, 1898; 777,215 Meston, Issued December 13, 1904; 826,102 Hershey, Issued July 17, 1906; 960,655 Mabey, Issued June 7, 1910; 1,222,971 Moe, Issued April 17, 1917; 1,407,341 Veeck, Issued February 21, 1922; 1,822,280 Ervay, Issued September 8, 1931; 1,919,128 Redden, Issued July 18, 1933; 2,636,361 Holden, Issued April 28, 1953; and 3,179,447 Parr et al, Issued April 20, 1965. ______________________________________
Kavanaugh, 603,694, disclosed a pivoting broom handle where the handle rides on a pivot rod 5 in a spring-loaded flexible track 7.
Meston, 777,215, discloses a shaft coupling employing a flexible housing 9, which surrounds a coupling in which two solid shafts are abutted against a disk 14. The disk 14 separates the ends of the shafts.
Hersey, 826,102, discloses a golf club with a flexible mounting of the club head to the shaft. The mounting does not include any direct attachment between the club head and the shaft, the "flex" being provided by, in FIG. 2, the strength of the surrounding housing and, in FIG. 3, the combined strength of the housing which may take the form of a spring.
Mabey, 960,655, shows an adjustable brush handle where the handle is pivoted about the pin 5 and is supported by spring connections 21. The connection here is in the form of an elongated tongue on the end of the handle which has a hole at the end of the tongue in which the pin is inserted.
Moe, 1,222,971, discloses another flexible coupling between the handle and a brush. This flexible coupling also employs an elongated portion on the handle which interfits in supports 20 and is connected by pin 24.
Veeck, 1,407,341, discloses a flexible connection between the handle and the head of a mop. The form of connection here is to a pin connection between the handle and the mop head rather, the connection is formed by the strength of the supporting surrounding housing. Flexibility is developed by spring members, or pivoted curved surfaces abutting each other in the housing.
Ervay, 1,822,280, discloses a flexible head hammer. The purpose of the hammer in Ervay is to enable the handle to be used in the manner of FIGS. 5,6. The connection between the head and the handle employs a pin 16. The end of the handle is in the form of several notches 17, 18 and 19, which interfit into protrusion 17. This serves to "lock" the angle of the handle relative to the handle depending on the position of the fitting 20 into any of the three notches 17, 18 and 19. Element 20 is spring-loaded and therefore movable into and out of the respective notches.
Redden, 1,919,128, shows a flexible head claw hammer employing a pivot connection at 18. As best shown in FIG. 2, the head of the hammer employs two arms 17 and a pin 18 formed therein. The handle is connected to the jaws 6 of the pivoting head portion. There is no special configuration at the end of the handle; it merely is surrounded by rotatable hammer head and handle-engaging end portion.
Holden, 2,636,361, relates a support for machine tools. The invention consists of a flexible spherical mass "G" surrounds pin supports 16 and 17 to form the connection in the device.
Parr, et al., 3,179,447, relates to an arrangement for directing the exhaust gases in the exhaust nozzle of a jet of rocket engine.
The prior art flexible head hammer includes a head, a handle, and a connector which has a hinge means and a resilient means that connects the head to the handle and that urges the head to a normal, right angle position on the handle.
One problem with the prior art flexible head hammer in that it is not usable for absorbing part of a reaction force which is directed to the impact portion of the head when a user is applying an impact force.